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Borneo

Climbing Mount Kinabalu

By Michael Flarup

December 27^th, 2010

Rain was beating on the windshield of a rather modern town car as it wooshed through a rather modern city. It was dark outside. We had arrived at Kota Kinabalu, our entry point into Borneo and we had little idea of the challenges waiting ahead.

It was at the peak of the rain season and we where exhausted after 3 weeks of traveling the Philippines. We both had a bad case of the aircon sniffles and the nagging subtle fever that comes with it. To put it bluntly, we where tired and the uncharming city of Kota Kinabalu (affectionately called KK) set the rainy concrete backdrop in a rather uninspiring scene. One of our main goals on the Borneo checklist was to climb the famous Mt. Kinabalu, the highest mountain in south east asia. An occasion I had been looking forward to for months. I had intensified my training back home and had packed and hauled all the necessary gear for the ascent of a lifetime.

Trying to get back on Schedule

As we desperately tried to beat our colds, the rain kept washing over KK like a grey damp carpet. The city was expensive, and as it zapped our funds, it slowly dimmed my hope of climbing Mt. Kinabalu. As I looked out over the South China Sea, my face painted in concern, it looked like a vaporous struggle between grey and darker grey. That was it! We finally decided to not care about our colds and went straight to the local travel company, booked the necessary permits and accommodations for the the following day; we would be climbing that mountain in the face of bad weather and fever - anything to get out of the city and back on schedule. As yet another grey day loomed we had settled into our outdoor gear and I had my 12kg camera equipment firmly packed and strapped to my back. We started the ascent around 9 in the morning, just as the weather decided to give us another warm, moisty shower.

THE FACTS

Mt. Kinabalu is part of the Crocker mountain range that cuts through Sabah in northern Malaysian Borneo. Like an odd kid in a classroom it stands freakishly tall, more than twice the height of it’s otherwise impressive neighbors. It’s often shrouded in clouds, but driving there you get the sense of it’s monumental size right away. With it’s 4095,2m it’s the highest point between Himalaya and Papua New Guinea and the 20th highest mountain in the world. What makes this mountain so unique compared to other mountains in it’s class, is that it requires no mountaineering experience to reach the summit. That makes it very accessible to anyone with the proper physical condition to experience a climb and height that would otherwise be reserved for the more advanced mountaineers. If you’re in Borneo, you do not wanna miss out on this opportunity.

The Climb

The climb consists of a two-day ascend, the first part of the journey takes you up a rough trail that carves it’s way through lush jungle shrouded in moving clouds. Someone explained it like climbing stairs for 5 hours straight, which I thought to be a pretty accurate analogy. As we made our way up the trail through the various vegetation the rain was relentless. We had a wonderfully solemn guide named Freddie, and the first thing he said to us in a monotonous tone was “You probably won’t reach the summit.” He explained that no-one had been able to go there the past two days because of the weather. But even this sombre warning couldn’t ruin my mood. We had finally gotten out of the city and we where making our way up the mountain in one of the most extraordinary terrains I had ever traveled, I was absolutely ecstatic. My fever pounded, I couldn’t tell if it was rain or sweat running down my body, but I was the happiest guy in the world. We reached Laban Rata, the dormitory styled building where we would spend the night before making the early morning push for the summit, that is, if we where allowed.

We went to bed around 17pm awaiting the weather verdict around 2am where our alarm clocks would go off. I think I got roughly an hour of solid sleep that night, listening to the rain pounding on the tin roof and battling the fever, crossing my fingers. If there was just the slight hint of bad weather we would be ordered down the mountain without ever reaching the summit, a prospect that just seemed too unfair to grasp. With only enough electricity to run the lights, Laban Rata slipped into the night with 80 people cold in their beds, hoping for the best.

Where’s the Stars?

2am came suddenly. People where making noises in the hall and I got up, ran to the toilet and stuck my hand out the window; no rain. I made my way through people getting in their gear, got downstairs to find that the warning sign was nowhere to be seen. I found Freddie and asked “So that’s it, no rain, no warning sign, does that mean we can make a try for the summit?”. Without looking at me he stared into the pitch black night sky and slipped out a “Where’s the stars?” We both gazed for a minute, my heart beating a soundtrack from a suspense movie. Finally a cloud broke and a vivid starry patch shun through. He looked at me and whispered “We go now”.

At 2.30am we had our full gear on, headlamps fixed and where making our way further up the mountain. Laban Rata, like a dimly lit shed disappeared in the distance. The first hour was a rather rough trail interrupted by big boulders and wet wooden stairs.

At around 3.30am the trail stopped. It was replaced with a sheer rock face and a rope. Knuckles white, we held on tightly as we made our way up some rather difficult patches. Coordinating rope and making sure that you had good foothold while keeping your lamp fixed on the next move was challenging and a lot of fun. At around 4am we reached the last support station at 3800m above sea level. Here they did a man count to make sure that no one was lost. A huge granite plane with more rope led us up the next part of the climb. I was bubbling with adrenaline, my fever was just a faint sting that I payed little attention to. I sped up and got a few hundred meters higher than the group I was following. Here I put down my LowePro bag and took out my 5Dmk2. Lights where flickering in the distant, I could see KK off to the west. The entire scene was lit by the most beautiful and clear night sky that I had ever witnessed. As I crouched down, shivering from the sweat rapidly cooling my body I managed to take a few long exposure shots of this magnificent view.

The last push

The last push towards the top was a challenging climb on boulders the size of a bus. At around 5:45am we made it to Low’s Peak, the summit of Mt. Kinabalu, 4095,2m above sea level. Just as we got up there the sun came up over Borneo, burning bright yellow and red - piercing the cool blue night sky. It was a view that I can’t justify with words. It was simply, breathtaking.The air was thin up here, I could feel altitude sickness giving me a solid headache and every move I made exhausted me tenfold of what it would have done on the ground. None of these things mattered though, it was part of the experience. We had finally kickstarted our Borneo adventure in style. We had been incredibly lucky with the weather, it was one of the calmest clearest mornings in weeks. The descend was a fairly painful experience with around 8 hours of climbing downhill, but I really urge anyone who come to borneo to not miss out on climbing the mountain.

What are these photos about?

The Good & The Bad

☺ Wild Life. Borneo needs little introduction when it comes to exotic species and there‘s more to see here than what you can fit in a single trip. Journey through the jungle on a guided tour, see the orangutans in the Sepilok sancturary or experience the giant sea turtles on Turtle island. Make sure that the places you visit and the tours you go on are environmentally sustainable. Educating yourself and supporting initiatives that take these matters seriously will ensure that you‘ll make memories that will stay with you forever while helping to save endangered animals. I‘d like there to be turtles for my children to see as well.

☹ Infrastructure. If you‘re planning on going across the island, say, from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan, know that there‘s just one road crossing through the innards of the island. This one road is often filled with logging trucks and other monstrosities making traveling across it cumbersome and a bit dangerous. ☹ Kota Kinabalu was gloomy and uninteresting. Modern westernization and urban development has washed away most of what ought to make a city like this unique and exciting. It‘s a point of entry, but don‘t linger. Good Sushi though.

What are these photos about?

In many ways, Borneo is a little out of your way. You don‘t accidentally stop over here for a bit of rest and recreation. You come here with a purpose. Wether its to climb the mountain or experience the wildlife, a certain determination and planning is required. The extra effort is well worth it though. There‘s things that you can experience here that are hard to find grouped together like this elsewhere on the planet. If you go, plan ahead and brace yourself for a good dose of adventure.